


When You Look Me In The Eyes

by bookwormforalways



Series: what the future holds [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Airport AU, F/M, Modern AU, bellarke fluff - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:39:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3914977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwormforalways/pseuds/bookwormforalways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early morning flights are the worst, and everything that can go wrong is going wrong for Clarke. Including being plagued by an annoyingly attractive and snarky stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Look Me In The Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at sharing fanfic with the world, but with these two it just had to be written and shared. Let me know what you think.
> 
>  
> 
> (And yes, the title is from the jobros... I can't help what iTunes shuffle does to my brain...)

The airport was the last place Clarke wanted to be at 5am on a Saturday morning. She definitely wasn’t here by choice, but rather, at her mother’s insistence. 

Due to the last minute nature of the trip back to Ark, Clarke had two large carry-ons with her, plus her purse, keeping her hands full. She managed to thank and pay her cab driver and stumbled into the airport waiting area. Craning her head left and right, she searched for Dropship Airlines to find their departures desk. Spotting to her far right, she turned on her heel to walk in that direction when she slammed into something solid. 

Hands reached out and steadied her. “Are you okay?” a deep male voice asked. 

Looking up Clarke spotted a tall man with unruly hair, olive skin, and questioning eyes. 

“Yeah, just watch where you’re going next time!” She blurted out at him, her frustrations from this morning building up to a breaking point. 

His eyes showed his surprise at her outburst, “Sorry, I guess?” And he took a step back. Clarke narrowed her eyes, glaring at the man, before walking away, fast-paced and determined. 

Gosh, she thought to herself, what an ass. She refused to look behind her, and focused on the Dropship desk that was quickly approaching. Standing in line, she recounted the recent incident in her head. Looking back, Clarke realized she might have been a little sharp with him. He had caught her and asked if she was okay, and she definitely hadn’t been looking where she was walking either. She should have been nicer, or at least apologized for her reaction. Reasoning to herself, she tried to blame her words on everything that had gone wrong that morning - starting with her mother booking her a 6:30am flight creating a very early wakeup call, her broken coffee maker that failed to provide her with needed caffeine, and how her favourite converse shoes had broken the night before so she was stuck wearing her other pair that were already giving her blisters. Life just wasn’t going in her favour today, and she felt bad that the stranger had been on the receiving end of her frustrations. 

Clarke was sorry, but she would never admit it, she was too stubborn. But the beauty of airports was that everyone was always coming or going, always moving. The transient nature meant that the chance she would ever see him again were incredibly slim. 

—————

After a gruelling consultation with the flight desk receptionist Clarke had been told the only available seats were in the middle - no windows or aisles left because she was so late getting to the airport. She hated sitting in the middle. Figures it would happen today of all days. Clarke made a note to add this to the mental list she was keeping of complaints to air to her mother later. 

And security. Nightmare 2.0. But she had survived. 

Clarke finally found her gate in the Mount Weather airport and was relieved to spy a few empty chairs. She dumped her bags on the floor and shook out her sore muscles as she sat down. 

The gate was surprisingly full, especially since the flight to Ark wasn’t for another hour. But then again, she was one of the last ones to check in for their flight. 

Scrolling through her phone, Clarke checked her Twitter and Instagram for updates after sending off a quick text to her mother that she had made it to the airport and through security. 

Her endless scrolling was interrupted minutes later. “Is this seat taken?” a voice asked. 

Clarke looked up, and saw the man she had yelled at earlier. “Why?” she asked without thinking. She seemed to forget to filter her thoughts when she was around this man. 

He smirked, his dark eyes an extension of his teasing smile. And then sat down. “Because you seemed like you were in a delightful mood earlier. And I decided you needed cheering up because you were probably just in a bad mood. So you’re either a clinical grump or you’ll warm up to me… eventually.” 

Clarke’s jaw fell open. “I am not a grump.” 

“Whatever you say princess.” He pulled out a worn paperback from his backpack and flipped it open.

Clarke crossed her arms and glared at him. When he refused to look up from his book she reached out and pulled the softcover from his hands. His dark eyes flashed to hers. 

“I am not a grump. And I am not a princess. I was fully going to apologize for what I said earlier, because yes, I was in a bad mood. And I still am in a bad mood, but you’re not helping it. You’re making it worse.” 

She waited for him to respond, but he was silent. He simply held out his hand for his book back, which she gave back. 

“Thank you,” he replied as he flipped back to his page. Looking back up at her he said, “I’m Bellamy Blake by the way.” 

She shook his outstretched hand. “Clarke Griffin.” 

He returned to his book, and she looked down at her phone determined to ignore him. 

Minutes later she realized she needed to use the bathroom. But the last thing she wanted to do was drag her bags with her. Sucking up her pride she turned to Bellamy. “Hey Bellamy?”

“Yeah?” he looked surprised that she had remembered his name, much less decided to talk to him. 

“Would you be able to watch my bags while I run to the bathroom?”

He smirked, “I thought you didn’t like me, and now you’re trusting me with your bags?”

She stood up and shook her head at him. “My need to pee outweighs my need to dislike you.” She walked down the hall, the sound of his laughter echoing in her ears. 

—————

Somehow she had survived the last half hour of Bellamy’s teasing. She had just met the man, but boy did he know how to push her buttons. When she had returned from the bathroom, they began talking. Within a few minutes he had made fun of her chosen art major, been insulted at her lack of knowledge on the subject of classical history (which he was apparently obsessed with), and had laughed at half the songs that had popped up on her iPod as it shuffled (though she insisted most of them she just hadn’t deleted since high school). 

Finally Dropship airlines announced boarding for her section. As she stood up, so did Bellamy. Oh, how she hoped she wasn’t sitting near him - half an hour was awful enough, she couldn’t even imagine a full seven hours. 

The flight attendant checked her ticket and passport, with Bellamy following right behind as they made their way down the tunnel to the plane. She shuffled down the busy middle aisle to reach her seat, 22B in the middle of the plane. She discovered that her neighbour to the window side was already seated, an old lady with a friendly smile and sleepy eyes. 

Clarke struggled to lift her carry-ons into the luggage racks when she heard Bellamy’s voice behind her. “Let me do that for you princess.” 

She scowled at him, “I thought we vetoed the princess thing.” 

He grinned as he lifted her bags up easily. Clarke slid into her seat, and tucked her purse down by her feet, and she felt someone sit down in the aisle seat beside her. 

Bellamy. Freaking. Blake. 

“Wait, you’re sitting here?” she asked incredulously. 

The mischievous smirk of his appeared. “Yup. Says right here on my ticket, 22C.” 

Clarke’s eyes narrowed, “But you checked in after me. There were only middle seats left. How did you manage to get an aisle seat?”

“Ahh, well, the receptionist was clearly attracted to me. So I flirted a little, and suddenly there was one last aisle seat that was all mine.” 

Clarke gasped. “Seriously?! That is so not fair!!” 

Bellamy held up his hands in mock surrender. “I can’t help it if women fall head over heels for me. And sometimes I feel bad about playing with their affections…” He stretched out his long legs into the aisle and sighed, “But sometimes it’s so worth it.” 

Clarke shook her head at him, “You’re an ass Bellamy.” She pulled her iPod and headphones from her purse, determined to ignore him. 

“You know the flight attendants are just going to make you put that away in a few minutes,” Bellamy chimed, clearly finding joy in her annoyance. 

Her blue eyes seared a glare in his direction. It was going to be a long seven hours. 

———————

An hour into the flight Bellamy had already found six new ways to annoy Clarke. And he seemed to find pleasure in each and every sigh of annoyance that left the blonde. 

First off, he was a jittery person. He had lowered his table tray (noting that he did so only after the flight attendants deemed it safe - okay, make it seven ways), and had begun tapping his fingers restlessly. There was no rhyme or rhythm, just needless noise that set Clarke’s nerves on edge. 

Third, she had pulled out a book in hopes of being able to ignore the oaf beside her. Unfortunately she had packed a historical romance set in industrial London. Bellamy managed to read over her shoulder and find something historically inaccurate on each and every freaking page. Six pages in and she had given up, only able to tune out his lectures for so long. The fourth reason was that she actually found his historical tidbits interesting and she kicked herself mentally for being fascinated by how the author had chosen to grant the main character, a poor working girl, so many possessions such as books and changes of clothes, when realistically as Bellamy had informed her, that it was more than likely that this main character wouldn’t have even been able to read, let alone afford a book or handful of outfits. 

Fifth, as the flight attendants came by with the drink cart, Bellamy managed to charm his way into three mini bottles of wine rather than the limit of one. He offered to share with Clarke, who refused, solely out of principle. And she was already more than ticked off that the flight attendant had put ice in her Coke when she specifically asked for no ice. 

Once the cart had gone by, Bellamy stretched his long legs into the aisle and sighed. “Feels so good to stretch,” he smirked at her. She elbowed him, and rolled her eyes, turning on her iPod, determined to ignore him for the next six hours. 

And just as the first hour mark approached Bellamy leaned over and touched her iPod to light up the screen. 

“The Jonas Brothers? Seriously?” The smug stranger and his superior tastes in music criticized again. 

She rolled her eyes at him. “Like I said earlier, I haven’t had a chance to update this much since high school.” 

“But the problem is that you put it on here in the first place.” 

Clarke groaned. “Hey! They were fantastic a few years ago.”

“Yeah, but if I never have to hear S.O.S. or Burnin’ Up again, that will be too soon.” Bellamy’s dark eyes lit with fire as he continued. “And I can just hear your brain melting listening to When You Look Me In The Eyes, c’mon princess, it’s the stupidest song ever. Nick goes on and on about he can’t do anything without looking into this girls’ eyes, I mean, has he ever heard of independence? There is more to life than girls when you’re sixteen! And don’t even get me started on how he uses a universal ‘you’ to make every teenage girl in the vicinity believe that he’s singing about them.”

Clarke’s jaw dropped. “Now I’m intrigued. How on earth do you know those songs?”

Bellamy clenched his jaw before answering. “My younger sister Octavia believed she was destined to marry Nick. I swear she listened to their cds, and talked about them nonstop for five years straight. Let’s just say, I am so ashamed that I know every word to every single one of their songs.” 

“Omigosh!” Clarke squealed, “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” She shook her head, her blonde hair swinging from side to side as she laughed, “A grown man knowing all the lyrics to Disney boy band, now I’ve heard it all.” 

Bellamy bit his tongue, as if he had been about to say something back, instead reaching into his own backpack to pull out a battered iPod. He quickly swapped her headphones into his iPod, and grabbed her left earbud so they were sharing the headphones. “Here, listen to some real music.” And he hit play. 

Clarke recognized the tune from the radio, one she had found herself humming in the shower recently. As much as she hated to admit to Bellamy that she liked the song, she did. And his beautiful grin reappeared on his wonderfully tan skin. Wait. Beautiful? Wonderful skin? Where on earth had those thoughts come from. Get it together, Clarke, she thought to herself.

——————— 

They listened to his iPod in peace for a while, taking turns scrolling thought the device and choosing songs. 

When the on-flight meal was served they chatted about their childhoods, recalling favourite games, embarrassing stories, and sharing laughs. And when the flight attendant snuck Bellamy two more mini bottles of wine, Clarke accepted the bottle he offered to her. 

Taking a break from Bellamy’s iPod, Clarke decided they should watch a movie. Bellamy insisted they watch the same one, selecting the same romantic comedy two seconds after she hit play, so that they could watch together and laugh at the same time. As the inevitable drama and laughs filled the screen, Clarke’s head began to feel heavy and found herself bobbing in Bellamy’s direction. Without realizing it, her head fell onto Bellamy’s shoulders, the same solid shoulders she had crashed into earlier that morning, and watched the movie on his seat-back screen. He didn’t seem to mind, and Clarke was too tired and comfortable to care. After all, he was an annoying, yet friendly, stranger that she would never see again after this flight landed in three hours. But she couldn’t help the warm, fuzzy feeling inside when she felt Bellamy’s body shake under her head as he laughed at the movie. 

 

—————————

The last three hours of the flight went by quickly. Clarke had dozed off during the end of the movie, and had woken up surprised to find herself still resting on Bellamy’s shoulder. He hadn’t moved the whole time because he thought she could use the rest. Though once she was awake he darted off to use the bathroom because of all the wine and extra coffee the same flight attendant had brought him, but he hadn’t wanted to wake the sleeping blonde on his shoulder. 

For the last hour of the flight Clarke had pulled out her sketchbook and Bellamy worked on a crossword while the exchanged pleasant conversation. As annoying as Bellamy had been earlier in the day, Clarke was beginning to genuinely enjoy his company, his snarky responses and all. She found herself actually glad that she had been seated next to him rather than pervy old man (which was what had happened on her last flight). 

As soon as the planes wheels had hit the ground in Ark, Bellamy had asked for her phone. Clarke groaned and called him an idiot for waiting until they had landed to allow her to turn her phone back on, but he was a stickler for airline rules. But he ignored her quips and quickly programmed his number into her contacts and texted himself to add her number to his phone. 

She rolled her eyes at him, but was secretly glad that he had asked for her number, saving her the embarrassment of having to ask for his. 

They finally parted at the baggage claim when Bellamy had found his bag. He had carried one of her carry-ons for her the entire way through the airport maze, and she thanked him. 

He enveloped her in a hug before they went their separate ways, she to meet her mother, he to meet his sister. 

“Thanks for keeping me company today,” he said in a sincere voice as he released her from his arms, before his teasing tone returned, “I’m glad you didn’t yell at me the whole time, like you did this morning.”

Clarke grimaced and looked down, “I said I was sorry!” she insisted. Looking back up, “Thanks for not holding my bad mood this morning against me.”

He smiled. “No worries, but you did finally warm up to me, which definitely makes this an ‘I-told-you-so’ moment, princess, but I’m going to be generous and not actually tell you ‘I told you so’.”

“You just said it twice!” Clarke retorted, smacking his arm. 

He feigned annoyance, but soon laughed at her scowl. “See you around?” he asked. 

She nodded, and turned to leave. Turns out they both lived in Mount Weather for work, but their families lived in Ark. They had made tentative plans to meet up for drinks at some point this week when Clarke’s mother drove her crazy - which would realistically be the next day, or even earlier. As Clarke found her mother in the large crowd in at the arrivals areas, she couldn’t help feeling excited to see Bellamy again. 

——————————

As Clarke’s mother steered their car onto the highway headed to Clarke’s childhood home, her phone buzzed with a text.

It was from Bellamy: You will never guess what my ears are being poisoned with right now. O put her iPod on shuffle, and of course she invoked the ‘driver chooses music rule’ and now I’m stuck listening to When You Look Me In They Eyes for the next three minutes. 

Clarke laughed out loud, ignoring her mother’s questioning look as she typed back: You deserve it after making fun of it earlier. I hope those are the longest three minutes of your life.

Bellamy’s face filled her mind as she waited for his response, expecting his signature snark. But when her phone buzzed again, she was shocked to read: True, but now I can only think of a certain pair of blue eyes belonging to a feisty stranger who’s bad mood manifested in a physical attack on my person this morning. 

It was cheesy, but Clarke knew that she was falling for the tall, dark stranger she had crashed into this morning. 

She replied: You literally came out of nowhere!! You should have been watching where you were walking!

The texting conversation continued until Clarke reached her house, and phoned him, setting up a time to meet for drinks that evening because she was already sick of her mother’s overbearing presence.


End file.
